Posted 3 years ago on Sept. 18, 2015, 9:45 a.m. EST by trashyharry
(3084)
from Waterville, NY
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Today is the first day of the fifth year of Occupy Wall Street.I have been strongly urged to post here by others who are no longer able to do so.They say the site will soon no longer exist.My understanding of this site is that it is being used to promote ideas about how we are going to fix political and economic systems that I believe have already collapsed.I still believe that art and artists hold the key to advancing our struggle against those who seek to preserve their wealth and privileges in the midst of the collapse.I have many ideas in this line of action,but unfortunately only one was ever used.My efforts to connect with other artists have failed.I wanted to post a description of what transpired at Left Forum when I attended a panel discussion of "what can artists do to advance the radical left agenda." The experience was so depressing I decided that anyone who wasn't there is better off not knowing what was said at that time.I will say that neither Ad Busters nor Occupy was mentioned in two and one half hours of presentations and discussions.I was not able to go NYC for S17 this year,but I remain hopeful that we will all be meeting there again soon.Hopefully we will all get an opportunity to contribute to the effort to build a world that has a place for everybody,and where people and the planet come before profits.Another World,where art,science and cooperation are possible,and wars and exploitive economic systems are not.We are the 99.009%,and we are under attack.The Fight will be over when we unite and FIGHT BACK.

Hi trashyharry. Nice to see you. I was on another thread and saw this comment and I think it really fits here:

"[-] 3 points by shadz66 (19985) 1 year ago

''Artists, like rebels, are dangerous. They speak a truth that totalitarian systems do not want spoken. “Red Rosa now has vanished too. …” Bertolt Brecht wrote after Luxemburg was murdered. “She told the poor what life is about, And so the rich have rubbed her out.” Without artists such as musician Ry Cooder and playwrights Howard Brenton and Tarell Alvin McCraney we will not succeed. If we are to face what lies ahead, we will not only have to organize and feed ourselves, we will have to begin to feel deeply, to face unpleasant truths, to recover empathy and to live passionately. Then we can fight.'' from :

''The Sparks of Rebellion'', by Chris Hedges : <http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19127-the-sparks-of-rebellion> & Solidarity @ OWS & you for a bw for us all, wherever we may be ~*~

Art, science, and cooperation all have vast transformative powers but art seems to come first with its transformative visions.

Changes often come from within, from a new perspective, from the perception of a new possibility, and from the rediscovery of ancient truths or lost art. There were transformative episodes in human history such as the Reformation, the Renaissance, higher-dimensional more realistic perspective paintings, opening of a sea route to India around Africa, discovery of the New World, etc.

Why didn't perspective paintings happen earlier? There were many millennia of artworks after the cave paintings without any perspective. Didn't the artists in all those intervening millennia see the shadows and the different apparent sizes? They surely did. I suspect that their Minds' Eyes did not open because they did not care enough to engage their minds. They looked but they did not see. Then there were also those who heard but did not listen and those who talked but did not speak.

Television is the most powerful weapon of psychological warfare in history and yet it is a member of the family in most households. So the programming that we are constantly assaulted with conditions us to a particular worldview. This fake ''consensus reality'' .. then changes our behavior making us less active and more compliant with society's shortcomings, as well as more docile and so ever more manageable.

Since television is controlled by a very small handful of powerful corporations, viewers will never witness informing, truthful news and entertainment. As political and corporate power unite at an ever increasing rate, being informed is more important than ever. Art is part of our Higher Consciousness and Salvation.

Solidarity for OWS' Fifth Year & sorry that last year's 'Left Forum' was so dispiriting for you. Have faith.I have a friend who tweets her Revolutionary Art & it is a very effective way of sharing Revolutionary Ideas.